Introduction
Ash Christian (16 January 1985 - 13 August 2020) was an American Emmy Award-winning indie producer known for his work on Fat Girls (2006), mI promise (2013), and 1985 (2018).
He was the founder of Cranium Entertainment, a New York-based production company that has produced such films as Miles (2016), Fat Girls (2006), Little Sister(2016), and After Everything (2018).
Early life
Ash Christian was born as Ash Ray Christian on January 16, 1985, in Paris, Texas. He began writing and directing short films at the age of 14, and at the age of 16, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in show business.
Career
Christian made his screen debut in 2000, aged 15, when he wrote, directed, and starred in a short film titled Secrets Underneath. In the following year, he was seen in one of the primary roles in director Farah White's short comedy Last Two Minutes of a Dream.
Five years later, in 2006, he produced his first feature film Fat Girls, starring himself alongside Jonathan Caouette, Evan Miller, and Ashley Fink. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and Christian won an award for outstanding emerging talent at the 2006 L.A. Outfest. The film's casting director Kelli Lerner was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Casting - Low Budget Feature - Drama/Comedy" at the 2008 Casting Society of America.
In 2013, Christian produced short film mI promise. The film, directed by Lauralee Bell, won "Outstanding Special Class Short Format Daytime" at the 2014 Daytime Emmy Awards. He shared the award with co-filmmakers Lauralee Bell, Scott Martin, Anne Clements, and Martin Bell Productions. Cinematographer David Maurice Gil was nominated for "Best Cinematography" at the 2014 Indie Series Awards. The film also won bronze in the "Internet/online video - Drama" category at the 2014 Telly Awards.
In the following years, Christian went on to act in several known television series such as Cleaners (2014), The Good Wife (2011-2014), The Oath (2019), and The Good Fight (2019), and also produced Love on the Run (2016), Hello Again (2017), Social Animals (2018), and Coyote Lake (2019).
At the time of his untimely death in August 2020, he had a few new productions in the works, including Paper Spiders (with Lili Taylor and Peyton List), Chick Fight (with Malin Akerman, Bella Thorne, and Alec Baldwin) and Pillowface (with Ian Whyte).
In 2008, Christian co-produced Brian Yorkey's musical Next to Normal, which won 3 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize.
Death
Ash Christin died on August 13, 2020, aged 35, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He was found dead in his sleep while vacationing in Mexico. His representatives broke the news and no other details had emerged at the time of this writing on August 16th.